She nodded, but said, “I’ll leave. Just don’t hurt Brooks.”
She gathered her things and headed out.
“Kendall, my dear?” Brooks called.
She didn’t answer and instead left without looking back.
“You can tell me what that cunt said or Diesel can tell me,” Christopher told Brooks. “Then we fuckin’ decide if you dyin’, too.”
April 3rd
One more difference between the last time Megan left and this time? Christopher knew the day she’d come home. It was near 2PM, and he could barely stand the waiting. They’d talked early this morning and she told him she’d see him in a few hours. She sounded and looked excited. Happy, even. So where the fuck was she almost nine hours later? She was in LA, not New York—it shouldn’t take this long for her to get home.
“Dad?”
Ryder’s call stopped Christopher’s pacing in the foyer. After he returned from his meeting with the contractor, he’d gone to his bedroomand removed his socks and boots, then came back to the foyer, admiring its high ceiling and marble floors, the multiple entryways that led to various parts of the house—the big archway that led to the central hallway and opposite the double entrance doors and the two smaller doorways that led to the east and west hallways. Megan had made the foyer both elegant and welcoming.
“Dad!”
“What, boy?”
Ransom and Ryder could’ve gone the fuck to school today, but he’d allowed them to stay home and greet Axel when he arrived.
“You know I’ve been very good about my chores since Mom’s been gone.”
He had been. Christopher nodded.
“All this waiting and expecting Ax has left me unable to concentrate and focus on what I need to do.”
“You just got to make your motherfuckin’ bed and bring your plates to the kitchen after every meal.”
“I also have to do homework.”
“That’s whether your ma here or not. Oh, yeah, how the fuck your presentation with the bees and the ants went? Don’t tell your ma I forgot to ask.”
“What…oh! Yeah, it’s okay, Dad. We got very high marks.”
“Good fucking job.”
“That’s another thing that was added to my long list of work. Gathering the supplies we needed to bring to school.”
“What the fuck’s your point, Ryder?”
“That I’ve had to do schoolwork, make up my bed, bring stuff to the kitchen after meals, pick up my clothes from the floor, bring wet towels to the laundry room, and help Aunt Bunny and Bishop with whatever they need. I need a break today.”
“I know it sounds like a lot.”
“I’ve done a lot. I do a lot. Mom makes me straighten up my room weekly and even that’s a lot. You had me doing it every day.”
“You did it today?”
“I just said I need a break.” Ryder folded his arms. “You’re telling me to do something else when I just finished helping Aunt Bunny change a light bulb and then loaded the dishwasher for Bishop. You’re ignoring everything I’ve already done to focus on what I don’t feel like doing today. You don’t appreciate all the hard work I’ve put in.”
“Listen up, boy. I ain’t in the fucking mood for dumb motherfuckers, even my own kid. What the fuck you did yesterday or the day before has to do with what the fuck you need to do today?”
“I’m tired and unappreciated.”
“Ain’t no skin off my fuckin’ nuts how the fuck you feel because that’s the stupidest fuckin’ shit I ever heard. You sound fuckin’ spoiled andentitled. I tell you good fuckin’ job every fuckin’ time you do shit.”
